This is a small-group taxi tour for cruise ship passengers anchored in Shimizu Port. Although several bus tours might be offered to them on the ship, some people still prefer flexibility of a small group. If you are traveling by land, a taxi can also pick you up in the Shizuoka City or Fuji City areas.
Feel free to personalize this offer with Koji.
Guide fee, tour guide's transportation fees.
・Taxi fare. (We use a chartered taxi for transportation. I'll contact you via text message with an approximate price.)
・Expressway tolls. (We use the Tomei Expressway for part of our trip.)
・Food or drink the guests might buy on the way.
1. This tour have a 4-guest maximum capacity. But, if you are a group of 5 or 6 and are interested in this itinerary, please contact me anyway and I will see if it's possible.
2. This is a 5.5-hour tour, but we need to drive for almost an hour to reach the main area of the tour, and the roads in Fuji City are likely to be congested (especially in the evenings). That is why sometimes it may be a little difficult for a taxi driver to adjust the tour time and finish the tour exactly in 5 hours. So please allow for a little extra time due to the traffic conditions, in which case I will not charge you any extra fees. If you definitely need to keep the tour time to 5.5 hours, please mention that to me beforehand so I can adjust the schedule accordingly.
3. As to a visit to a sake brewery or a green tea farm, please note that, since these facilities are family-run businesses or rather small-scale companies, the booking is subject to change at the last moment.
4. Please refrain from resorting to the "direct booking." I hope you will book after we reach an agreement over the itinerary and the total price (including the taxi fare) through the exchange of text messages.
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Not necessarily. If you are traveling by land, I can also pick you up (or drop you off) at a JR station or your hotel in Shizuoka City or Fuji City.
This tour is basically for cruise ship passengers, and we need to avoid the risk of being late for the ship's departure. So I strongly recommend we use the Tomei Expressway between Shimizu IC and Fuji IC. The fare is around 1400 yen (about 13 USD as of August 2018) in total.
Most of the time, you walk on flat roads on this tour, but I am concerned about one part: If you want to get much closer to the Shiraito Waterfalls, you need to walk down a considerable number of stone steps (which means you need to climb up the same steps afterwards), and there are no elevators or paths. So please tell me beforehand if that's going to be a problem (you can see the particular falls without going down the many steps, but it is from a distance of about 250 meters).
Yes! If you need to make changes such as removing or adding someone to your booking or changing the date or time of your tour, contact us by phone or email
After you secure your booking, the starting and ending points of your tour can be customized to your convenience (ex.: your hotel, nearby stations, etc.). Don't worry, we will take care of you! Some tours may have an extra fee for this service, make sure to check the tour page.
After booking a tour, the guide will accept (or decline) your booking within 24 hours. Then you will be noticed by email from GoWithGuide.
The price is charged per group. Which means that you make a one-time payment for your entire group and the price will not change if it is less or more people.
Some guides accept extra people (more than the specified number) for an extra charge. Please check for the extras on the tour or booking page, or contact your guide directly to clarify.
No. Your tour is private, only for you and your family or friends, there will be no other group of tourists together in your tour.
Yes, but there will be additional charge for that and it is not by car. The guide will go pick you up using public transportations. For further details, please contact your guide directly.
Yes, you can and you may be able to get a discount if you are traveling alone. Price depends on which guide you choose.
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We had a wonderful tour. Koji was an excellent tour guide, and we had a most enjoyable day. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, so we did not see Mt Fuji. Nevertheless both Koji and his driver made sure that we had an enjoyable time, making sure that we saw all we wanted to see. Thank you for a lovely day.
Dear Susan, I am glad you seem to have arrived back at home safely. Many thanks for your kind review! I am relieved you could find some sort of pleasure in the tour despite the weather. The driver and I also enjoyed the time with you two. Please take care, and send our regards to Phil. Thank you very much.
Koji kept in constant touch with me once we agreed to hire him. The issue, of course, was the best time to see Mt Fuji. As it happened we had a most glorious day. We were a group of 5 with varying physical limitations. Koji adapted to and kept watch over us and was so very knowledgeable about what we were viewing I feel so very fortunate to have selected Koji as our guide. 5 stars +++
Dear Marylin, Many thanks for taking my tour yesterday and writing the generous and wonderful review! It was a great pleasure for me to guide you five through the Shimizu area. Well, I am sorry some of you, especially your husband, couldn’t see all of Kunozan Toshogu Shrine (mainly because of its daunting stone steps), but I wish they could find enjoyment, in some form or another, in the tour. Thank you very much, and please take care for the rest of your trip.
Koji adjusted our tour during the cruise stop in Shimizu to take into account my disability. He was very knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful; we couldn't find a better guide. Everything was very well planned.
Dear Sir, Many thanks for writing the warm comment. It was an honor for me to guide you two. You might have thought that it was unfortunate Mt. Fuji was too shy to appear during the tour, but I hope you will think about it in a positive way: for example, now you have one reason to revisit Japan in the future! Please be well, and send my best regards to your wonderful wife Irene.
A wonderful day with an excellent guide and driver, despite rain. Koji greeted us with a supply of towels, handled our bulky umbrellas, stopped to purchase a poncho for my husband before we headed out. My husband was not able to negotiate stairs, but stayed with our driver while Koji and I explored Kunozan Toshogu Shrine (in more rain). Informative explanations with additional stops at a tea field and Miho Pine Grove made this day.
Dear Barbara, Thank you very much for taking my tour and writing the generous comment about it! Well, It was a rainy day, and we managed to see the traditional ceremony at the shrine and the legendary sword in the museum, but Mt. Fuji was always thickly covered with clouds. Nevertheless, I spent an enjoyable time with you and your husband, and I hope you could enjoy some aspects of the tour, too. I thanked the taxi driver for helping us a lot during the tour and will thank him again the next time I meet him. Please be well, and if possible, please visit Japan again some day in the future.
From the outset (e-mails prior to booking the tour), I could tell Koji was an exceptional guide. We wanted an ambitious version of his Tour #2 and he was more than accommodating. He did not promise us the moon as a lot depended on traffic. He said he would be at the port a half hour early, and if we could manage to debark early, we could probably get every single thing in! We did get off early...and he and our taxi driver couldn't have been more wonderful. Knowledgable and entertaining, our day flew by. He managed to include all kinds of little extras...seemed like he knew everyone everywhere. We are a very experienced traveling threesome...we have booked private tours everywhere in the world as we have found they are the most efficient use of limited time. Koji really is EX... read more
Dear Teresa, Thank you very much for writing the exceptionally good review! I know it is more than I deserve, but still these words encourage me a lot. I am also grateful that you paid attention to, and evaluated highly, my work at the e-mail-exchange stage prior to the tour. Looking back at the actual tour in mid-April, it was regrettable that I couldn't take you to Lake Tanuki due to the poor visibility of Mt. Fuji, but I hope you three eventually enjoyed the six-hour tour on the whole. You and Maila-san were extremely energetic and curious, and Richard was unassuming and very gentle. The taxi driver and I also had a fun time with you three. Please take care, and contact us anytime if there is anything we can do for you.